Hiding
by Skyweaver
Summary: ExT : Slight angst; they're all about 24; slight SxS. Basically, Tomoyo is somewhat bitter about letting Sakura go, and, as always, Eriol is there to understand, despite his own problems with Kaho.
1. Running

A/N: *begs* Review! Please! It'd make me so happy! Also, I need to see if this fic is worth continuing. Please be free with your opinions! Not so free if they're horrible, of course... ^_^ Review!  
  
Disclaimer: CCS doesn't belong to me, although they're on my Christmas list.  
  
Chapter 1  
  
"Tomoyo-chan! You're here!"  
"Well, I can hardly miss my best friend's wedding reception, ne?" Tomoyo gave a wan smile. She really should have stayed home tonight. Emotional trauma can hardly be good for her.   
Sakura hooked her arm with Tomoyo's. "Let's go in! It's cold out here."  
Tomoyo let Sakura pull her toward the brightly lit ballroom. "Well," Sakura chattered happily. "When you said that you had a headache after the wedding, I thought, 'oh no, Tomoyo needs her rest'. But you came!"   
Tomoyo chuckled. "I'm sure I can last a couple of hours for you."  
Their high heels clicked briskly across the marble floor. Tomoyo and Sakura entered a incredibly large golden room. "It's beautiful." Tomoyo said politely. "You chose a wonderful place to hold the reception."  
Sakura blushed. "Meilin said her friend held a reception here and it was lovely. So Syaoran and I came to look at it, and we both agreed that it was perfect. Come on, you sit with us."  
Tomoyo was met with delight by the groom and his best man. "Daidouji-san!"   
"Hiiragizawa-kun, Kaho-san." Tomoyo greeted. "Congratulations, Li-kun."  
Syaoran blushed as Sakura reattached herself to his side. "Thanks."  
*****  
Tomoyo rubbed her forehead, making sure no one saw her pained expression. The evening seemed to drag on, and if it hadn't been unseemly for the bride of honor to leave so early in the reception, Tomoyo would be in her apartment by now, happily taking sleeping pills. But, as it was..   
"Daidouji-san, can I trouble you for this dance?" Tomoyo looked up and pasted a smile on her face. "I'd rather not, Hiiragizawa-kun."   
"Call me Eriol," he said, frowning slightly. "Are you feeling alright, Daidouji-san? You look rather pale. And really, you haven't danced with anyone all night. Surely you can manage one for your old friend?" Tomoyo sighed inwardly. To refuse a second time really would be rude. "Of course."  
He was a very good dancer, Tomoyo mused as they spun across the dance floor. She supposed that a hundred year's practice could do that for you. "Well," she said conversationally. "My congratulations on you getting back together with Kaho-san." Eriol raised an eyebrow. "And what gave you that idea, my dear Daidouji-san?"  
"She is your date tonight."  
"That's a mere technicality. We seperated a few months ago, and that was final. We are just.. friends now."  
"And you're not happy with that." Tomoyo phrased it as a question, but her tone implied it was a statement.   
Eriol smiled wryly. "Her happiness is my happiness." he quoted. Tomoyo could make no reply to that.  
*****  
The door swung open on a darkened apartment. Tomoyo flicked on the hall light and dropped her small purse by the door. Though she was a neat person by nature, and her single apartment was immaculate, tonight she was in no mood to be perfect. Her high heels soon joined the purse, and Tomoyo padded barefoot to her bathroom. She filled the large bathtub with water, and dumped half a cup of bubbles in. Quickly undressing, Tomoyo sank into the scaldingly hot water, relaxing for the first time in weeks. She mused over the past month as the steam from the water rose up. Half a year ago, Syaoran had proposed to Sakura on one of their vacations to the mountains. Sakura had come back, beaming and showing her engagement ring to her congratulating friends. And of course, Tomoyo got the honor of being the first to find out. From then on, the next sixth months had been a flurry of activity, and, to Tomoyo, a bloody good preview of Hell. There was the wedding to plan, the all-important guest list, the reception, and of course, the honeymoon. The last subject had been a rather sticky one. If you mentioned it to Syaoran, he'd immediately become suspicious that he was being mocked. If you mentioned it to Sakura, she'd turned a bright enough color to rival Syaoran, and stutter for the next few sentences. And, of course, if you were unlucky and foolish enough to mention it to Tomoyo, you'd get a icy smile and a stony silence. Eriol, in one of his more mischevious moods, had tried all three, and become more than paid back for it when Li had punched him, Sakura had given him one of her extremely rare looks, and Tomoyo became coldly polite to him for the next week or so. It was hard to have your partner in crime ignore you so subtly.   
*****  
The ringing of her cell phone woke Tomoyo the next morning. Muttering some rather unladylike words under her breath, Tomoyo's hand reached out from her warm covers and grabbed the subject of her irritation. "Hello?"   
"Daidouji-san?"  
"Eriol-kun? What do you want?"  
"Is that any way to greet someone who wants the pleasure of your company?"  
"Did you have to want it now? What time is it?"  
"It's 9:30 in the morning. Did I wake you?"  
"Yes." Tomoyo replied crossly.  
"Well, good." Eriol answered cheerfully. "It's about time you awoke. Were you planning to spend the whole morning sulking?"  
"Who's sulking?"  
"You are, my dear." His tone became considerably gentler. "Sweetheart, you are grieving over Sakura-chan, and it's understandable. But you can't waste your life away longing for her."  
"You mean, the way you yearn for Kaho-san every day of your life since she left you?"  
A chilly silence. "That was uncalled for, Daidouji-san."  
Tomoyo sighed. "Well, it's something to think about, isn't it?"  
"If you say so, Daidouji-san. Go back to sleep."  
"Eriol-kun?"  
The dial tone was her only answer. Tomoyo sighed. Just another bother to add to her actively growing pile. This was shaping up to be a great day. Tomoyo threw her phone out and buried herself deep in the comforting blankets.  
*****  
The atmosphere of the building radiated busyness and importance. Daidouji Tomoyo fit perfectly into the place. Wearing a gray business suit and carrying a sleek black suitcase, the young lady made an impressive figure. She grabbed a mug of coffee of the tray a passing waitress was carrying and made her way to her private office. Once seated, she began the day's work. "Sophie!"   
"Yes, Miss Tomoyo?"  
"I've decided on a design for the new set of dolls. Would you mind taking them down to Daidouji-san's office?"  
"Right away, ma'am."  
Working at her mother's company had brought up some unexpected problems, the least of which was the name. Having two top executives with the same name was bound to cause some confusion, so Tomoyo became Miss Tomoyo, Designing Executive, and Sonomi was to remain Daidouji-san, CEO of the Daidouji Toys. It worked out fine, and all involved were reasonably satisfied with it. Tomoyo was buried deep in a new design featuring a young doll with a familiar looking stuffed animal. Kero-chan had been absolutely thrilled that he was going to have his own toy line. He had given Tomoyo hundreds of "helpful" tips before she was forced to hang up on him and then, later, blame a power outage that went through the neighborhood. Sophie poked her head into Tomoyo's office. She was middle aged and motherly looking. The latter was an accurate description. On the days, and there were many, where Sonomi was overworking herself and much too busy to think of her only child, Sophie was the one who gently urged Tomoyo to get some sleep. "You have a visitor, Miss Tomoyo." Sophie announced with a twinkle in her eyes. Tomoyo studied her curiously, but Sophie refused to give away anything else. Tomoyo sighed. "Send them in."  
*****  
Tomoyo wrapped her slim hands around a steaming cup of coffee. They were sitting in her outer office, Tomoyo's back to a wall sized window. She gave Eriol a hard look, but he was busy stirring cream and sugar into his cup. "Eriol-kun," she said finally. "I thought we agreed not to visit each other at our workplaces." Eriol smiled at her over his cup. "Wrong, Miss Tomoyo." he replied smoothly. "You agreed for me not to visit you at your workplace. We never said anything about you not coming to visit me."  
"Still," she argued. "The point stands. You're here now." 'The thing was a little unfair,' an annoying voice said sorrowfully. 'After all, it's not Eriol-kun's fault that for weeks after he took you out to lunch that one day, everyone in the office was abuzz with gossip and your own mother thought that you two were romantically involved. And it didn't help that Eriol just smiled maddingly when anyone asked about his relationship to Miss Tomoyo.'   
Tomoyo sighed and gave Eriol a stern look. "May I assume that you've come for a reason?" she asked politely.   
"You may." Eriol allowed. "I wanted to ask how you're doing." Tomoyo's hands shook, but her voice was carefully steady. "I'm fine, Eriol-kun. Why wouldn't I be?"  
"Sakura-chan is on her honeymoon with Li-kun right now."  
"I'm perfectly aware of that, Eriol-kun."  
Eriol sighed and put his cup down. "Miss Tomoyo, when people hide their feelings, they have mental and emotional breakdowns."  
Tomoyo stood up, a not-so-subtle gesture that she was tired of the present company. "In that case, Hiiragizawa-kun, I advise you to stop hiding your feelings."  
  
Ending Notes: To be continued... if the reviews come in ^_^  
C 


	2. Fighting

A/N: I want to thank everyone who reviewed for, well, reviewing. ^_^ I wasn't going to continue this fanfic, but SacredWings kinda convinced me to. ^_^ Well, please keep reviewing....  
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Athena Winner~ Thank you for reviewing! Here's the next chapter and I hope it's just as interesting.  
  
lilangel~ Thanks for reviewing!  
  
Tomoyo-chan~ Thank you for the encouragement.. here's the next chapter. ^+^  
  
Tofu Angel~ hehe... what an interesting user name. Thanks for reading and reviewing..  
  
SacredWings~ Thanks for all your encouragement and good luck on your own fanfic!  
  
Winnie~ I completely agree with you, Eriol is the coolest.   
  
Fuu~ Sorry I took so long to write this next chapter, but thanks for your review!  
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Disclaimer: I don't own any of the characters in this story... yet.  
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Tomoyo took the rest of the day off. She deserved a break, she told herself on her way home. She hadn't taken a day off in an eternity, and surely it was excusable when the one you loved is on her honeymoon. And you know, no matter how much you've thought it through, that she must be happier she is now than she's ever been with you. And you know, that because you love her, you want to give her happiness, and it would pain you to see the look in her eyes if she knew how devastated you were. So you assure yourself that her happiness is your happiness, and that you'd be content just to watch her live her life with her beloved. You are living through her, in a way. And now, now you realize, on the way home, that the one person who might understand what you're going through right now, the one person who's always understood what you were going through, even when you didn't want him to, the one person that can make you forget about everything, if only for a second, that person is hurt by your careless words. And you just want to go home and never crawl out from your covers again. But, of course, you can't that. That's because you're Daidouji Tomoyo, and you are expected to be perfect. You expect yourself to be perfect; you become disappointed at anything less. Those and quite a few others were the bitter thoughts that ran through Tomoyo's head as she rode the elevator up to her apartment. Right after she'd started college, both Tomoyo and Sonomi had agreed that Tomoyo needed develop and meet people on her own, and she couldn't do it with her mother at her elbow. So now, although every once in a while Sonomi would shove some random colleague's son at her, Tomoyo's mother pretty much let her live her own life. They barely saw each other in the office, and both liked it that way, though they would never tell the other. Tomoyo had a nasty suspiscion that Sonomi saw Sakura as Nadesico all over again, and disapproved of Tomoyo supporting Sakura in her marriage, and even befriending her beloved's lover. Though the words were never said, Tomoyo could feel the dissatisfaction radiating from Sonomi whenever Tomoyo should mention Sakura in the same sentence as Syaoran. But Syaoran, being the person he was, would never say anything to either Tomoyo or Sakura, even though he was more than perceptive enough to detect Sonomi's increasing coldness to him, so that by the time the wedding arrived, she was almost downright rude. If it hadn't been for Eriol stepping in at the last moment.. Tomoyo still shuddered to think of what might have gone wrong. Tomoyo sighed. Of course her treacherous thoughts would lead her back to Eriol. The trouble of their almost-fight was still digging at her.   
Although Tomoyo had never thought of Eriol in a romantic fashion despite the office rumors, he was still one of her oldest friends, and currently the only one she could talk to without having to listen politely as they chattered happily about their happy love and family lives. Even though Tomoyo felt happy for Chihari and Yamazaki, who were engaged, Rika and Terada-sensei, (Tomoyo still thought of him as her teacher, even though he was married to Rika now; she couldn't help it) and Naoko and her newest admirer, it was easy to get tired of your own life, which was full of business and efficient people and sleeping pills and business trips and coffee, especially when you heard that Rika's baby was toothing, Yamazaki had to sleep in the garage when he brought home a dog who'd been sprayed by a skunk, and that Naoko's boyfriend surprised her at the library with a bouquet of roses. So it was only natural that Tomoyo didn't feel like getting in touch her friends. At least, that was what she told herself as she glanced guiltily at the blinking message machine and the envelopes with familiar handwriting scrawled across them, which she didn't even have time to open, let alone read. Tomoyo was successful, making a name for herself in the business industry, and finally stepping out of her mother's shadow within the company. But sometimes, just sometimes, when Tomoyo had the time to think quietly, she would wonder if it was all worth it. Tomoyo dropped her briefcase next to her bed and quickly changed into clothes that were more comfortable, though, her being her, still as stylish. She sat on her couch and flicked on the television. Staring blankly at one meaningless show after another, Tomoyo finally had enough and tossed down the remote. She had to admit it, she was feeling guilty about her last encounter with Eriol. He really was just trying to help.. even if he did so by being mockingly obnoxious.   
She picked up the phone.  
"Hiiragizawa."  
"Eriol-kun? This is Tomoyo." She strained to hear his reply, for the background was a blur of various voices and sounds.   
"Daidouji-san? Hold on a moment."  
A click, and suddenly the noise was silenced.   
"Eriol-kun?"  
"Sorry," he breathed. "Had to get away from Nakuru and Spinel."  
"Were they eating sugar again?"  
"Actually, Naruku is trying to play the piano and Suppi is begging her to stop."  
"That would explain the crashes."  
"Yes." An uncomfortable silence. Then, "Did you need something, Daidouji-san?"  
"Eriol," she paused. "I'm sorry."  
There was another silence, and for one horrid moment Tomoyo was afraid that he'd hung up on her.  
Then his voice sounded, and it was so heartbreakingly gentle that she almost cried. "Whatever for, Daidouji-san?"  
"For.." she struggled to find a suitable word. "For my rudeness in the office today."  
There was a soft sigh. "Well, what you said was true. And it's certainly something for me to think about, isn't it? Daidouji-san, don't you find it slightly humorous that we are in practically the same situation?"  
Tomoyo sniffled. "Well, you are certainly handling it better than I."  
A wry chuckle. "Years of practice, my dear. You know what you need?"  
"I'm sure you'll tell me."  
He ignored the sarcasm and continued. "You need a couple of weeks off. What do you say we go on a vacation? Strictly as friends, of course." The last sentence was said with a hidden smile. "A vacation?" Tomoyo echoed doubtfully. "I'm not sure I can leave my work."  
"Yes you can." Eriol said firmly, leaving no room for discussion. "You will take three weeks off from the office, and I will do the same for myself. We are going on a cruise."  
"A cruise?" Tomoyo repeated. "Li-kun and Sakura-chan went on a cruise for their honeymoon."  
"Well," Eriol said patiently. "I find it highly unlikely that we will join the same one. I will ask Spinel to pick one at random, and we will go on that."  
Tomoyo frowned indignantly. "You can't tell me what to do, Eriol-kun."  
"You need to heal." he said with finality. "And, as you've so kindly pointed out, so do I."  
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Ending Notes: Wow.. short chapter, ne? Ah well, it's sort of a second teaser to see if this story is going anywhere. ^_^ Reviews? Please? Please? Because I'm not quite sure if I'm continuing, so please give me your opinion, okay? Thank you!  
1/2/2002  
C 


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